If you missed the recent CTM: Growth Roundtable, you missed a focused conversation on maximizing Trade Show ROI through smarter booth strategy, stronger in-person engagement, and a clearer connection between event activity and pipeline, but we made sure to capture the most valuable takeaways in our post-session discussion.
Community Leader Casey Cheshire was joined by Paul Jones, Pardees Safizadeh, and Aaron Rayner to unpack how in-person events are regaining momentum as buyers seek real human connection in an increasingly AI-saturated landscape. The group explored how to design booths that attract the right audience instead of maximizing volume, how live conversations accelerate trust and pipeline movement, and why event strategy should prioritize quality of interaction over quantity of leads.
This was not just a recap, it was a practical, strategy-first conversation about how to turn trade shows into a high-impact growth channel by aligning experience, targeting, and follow-through to revenue outcomes.
Key takeaways:
In-person events are resurging as buyers crave authentic, human connection, making trade shows a powerful channel for building trust and accelerating pipeline
Booth strategy should focus on attracting the right “fish,” prioritizing ideal customers and meaningful conversations over high volumes of badge scans
Real-time, face-to-face interactions create faster relationship-building opportunities that can move deals through the pipeline more efficiently than digital-only touchpoints
Every interaction matters, as even non-buyers can influence decisions through the dark funnel, reinforcing the need for thoughtful engagement across all booth conversations
Whether you are rethinking your event strategy, optimizing booth performance, or looking to better connect trade show activity to pipeline impact, this session delivered actionable insight to help marketing leaders turn in-person moments into measurable growth.
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